I know many Christian ministers teach that God has to do everything that happens on earth, or he is not Sovereign. His Sovereignty depends on him being in charge of every dot on the I and every cross of the t. However, Sovereignty is not what God does but what he has the right to do. It also expands into the reality that when what he wants to be done doesn't get done, then he can hold accountable. His word describes his Sovereignty as a boss who allows his managers choices on how they will manage. He offers commendations and consequences for their choices. His Sovereignty isn't seen as dictatorial. Though many believe God must always have his way. The Scripture does not explain his relationship with mankind that way, though many use Scriptures such as Job 42:2 "I know that You can do all things and that no plan of Yours can be thwarted." Isaiah 14:27 "For the LORD Almighty has purposed, and who can thwart Him?" Those are true in the macro sense of God's ultimate plan for His Kingdom. They don't say that "everything is planned out by You and will happen exactly, detail by detail, and cannot be thwarted." Those are different statements.
God's big plan will not be thwarted for his Kingdom and His Church. The direction you and I go as individuals will be up to us as we remain in Christ. 1 John 5:11 "And this is the testimony; God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life." God has given mankind free will. It is not a manipulated free will, where we say "free will," but he says, "psych, it's "actually" controlled by me. It is not "really" free." Many teach dogmatically about how God runs the universe and will call others heretics when they deviate or disagree.
The Scripture shares times when mankind did something God did not approve of. To say it another way, "he did not get what he wanted."
Hosea 8:3 "But Israel has rejected what is good; an enemy will pursue him. 4 They set up kings without my consent; they choose princes without my approval. with their silver and gold, they make idols for themselves of their own destruction."
1 Samuel 8:7 "And the LORD told him (Samuel): 'Listen to all the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king."
Luke 13:34 " O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and YOU WOULD NOT LET ME!
The first passage in Hosea tells us our leaders don't necessarily have to do with God putting them in. Perhaps God's children have given up on prayer, thinking, "well, God's in charge, and He's going to do what he's going to do." Scripture does not bear that out. Maybe we use that as an excuse and don't realize we get what we get because we've become lazy and apathetic. We don't search the Scripture, so we condescend to religious dogma and not Biblical truth. We get who we get not because God wants that person, but we may not have invited God to contend on our behalf, so he did not.
We must stop letting people think for us when understanding how God works on the earth. He commands we pray continually, not because he's automatically working on our behalf, but so he will work on our behalf. We cannot misunderstand sovereignty or prayer. These are key to living a joyful and victorious life of understanding more about God and this earth than you can imagine. You have not because you ask not. And when you don't ask and get what you did not want, stop blaming God. "He was going to do what he would do anyway." That's absolute neglect of your responsibility.
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